Well a few months ago our 2 gold fish died after eight months living in a 28L tank. I suggested to the lass that we try a planted tank and after me crumbling after she demanded my fish that we could possibly fit in that small tank I surprised her with a Roma 125L. She was excited I started doing some research then she was not so excited when I told her we still could not get angel fish.

Anyways this research got me into plants and what better way do plants grow than in in dirt. I did some more research only to find that t8 lighting was a bit sub-par so I ripped the top open, threw in a t5 ballast and put twin 28w tubes into the top. This didn't result in my death by electrocution, burning down the house or worth killing the fish. I went over kill on the filter with a tetratec ex 1200.

So the soil is mix of gravel and aquarium dirt with a play sand cap. I started buying plants and throwing them in, some have done well some have died off. The tank stabilized after a two weeks and some major water changes Then when I threw in some barbs it went out of whack so more big water changes. After it stabilized again I threw in some dwarf neon rainbow fish and that it seem to remain stable. So here's what's in the tank and some photos.

Started 19/10/13
Fish/Invert Stock:
6 Five banded barb
6 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish
5 Ghost Shrimp (5 of 8 three died off within three days).
5 MTS (only ever see 3 don't know how many I have).